Manders Mindset

From Rock Bottom To Purpose Driven Founder | Michael Leung | 185

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What does it really take to rise from rock bottom and build something meaningful?

In this powerful episode of Manders Mindset, host Amanda Russo sits down with Michael Leung for a raw and deeply human conversation about grief, identity, resilience, and rebuilding after adversity. From immigrating to Canada at six years old to losing his mother to cancer during his teenage years, Michael shares how that devastating loss unraveled him, leading to years of anger, rebellion, and self-destruction before ultimately becoming the foundation for purpose.

Together, Amanda and Michael explore toxic friendships, heartbreak after a 12-year relationship ended, navigating partial blindness, and the mindset shifts that transformed pain into impact. What began as survival eventually evolved into innovation, including the creation of an affordable hearing device now helping seniors and individuals with disabilities. This episode is an honest reflection on humility, ownership, and the courage to evolve when life forces change.

💡 In this episode, listeners will discover:

🧳 How immigrating at a young age shaped resilience and identity
 💔 The profound impact of losing a parent and how unprocessed grief can manifest as anger
 🔥 Why destructive behaviors are often rooted in deeper emotional pain
 🧠 How adversity can either harden someone or refine them
 🍻 The turning point that led to sobriety and cutting toxic influences
 🎧 How personal disability inspired the creation of an affordable hearing solution
 📈 Why feedback, humility, and evolution are critical for growth
 💡 The “aha” moment that redefined fulfillment and purpose

⏰ Timeline Summary

 [5:45] Immigrating to Canada and adjusting to a new culture
 [11:10] Losing his mother to cancer and the emotional shift that followed
 [18:30] Falling into destructive patterns and feeling completely lost
 [27:50] A major career setback that reignited feelings of injustice
 [34:40] Being diagnosed with partial blindness and confronting uncertainty
 [38:20] The creation of his hearing device and building a purpose-driven company

To Connect with Amanda:

Schedule a 1:1 Virtual Breathwork Session HERE

📸 Instagram: @thebreathinggoddess

Follow & Support the Podcast:

📱Instagram: @MandersMindset
👥 Join the Manders Mindset Facebook Community HERE!

To Connect with Michael & Learn More about Flo:

 Website: https://www.theinnerflo.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theflogroup?igsh=MXJsZGJzZnc1Z2ZpNA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theflogroup

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.leung.9638?

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Manders Mindset Podcast. Here you'll find both monologue and interviews of entrepreneurs, coaches, healers, and a variety of other people, where your host, Amanda Rousseau, will discuss her own mindset and perspective, and her guest mindset and perspective on the world around us. Manders and her guests will help explain to you how shifting your mindset will shift your life.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Amanda's Mindset, the video episode of shifting your mindset to shift your life. I'm your host and Mandy Step. And I am very excited to be here in today's guest.

SPEAKER_02:

And I am here with Michael Leon. And I am so excited to delve down his journey because he has turned adversity into impact, rising from an immigrant childhood and personal struggles to become a purpose-driven founder. Thanks for joining me.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02:

So who would you say Michael is at the core?

SPEAKER_04:

Is at the core?

SPEAKER_03:

Can you explain the sorry? At the core. Can you explain that sorry?

SPEAKER_02:

Who would you say you are at the core?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, who am I at the core? Sorry. Who am I at the core? Sorry, I just isn't is I'm still like kind of like still that piece. Who am I at the core? Like what am I in the like what like the happiest point right now or something? Or like what this is Like who you are at the core. At the core. Can you just reword that? Like it's something else I really yeah. If you just say it in another s like in another like sentence, I yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Um like on the on at the inside of like your your being. However, you take that to me whatever you take that question to mean.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Who am I at the core? I guess for me, yeah, I feel like I don't know, like it internal happiness, I guess, it'll be something like that. Like what what like if I feel like I'm at my happiest point? Is that is that something that I can say? Because I've been through so much? Yeah. Like my my core, I guess. I guess I've been through a lot of uh adversity my entire life, and I think that at this moment, after all the major changes I've done, this is probably the happiest point of my life at this point. I think I can I can um it's just it's it's just the start of my journey right now. Like um I I've been through I've been through a lot. I think my the core maybe was was uh I I guess it was uh it was the lost soul for a while. I guess my I didn't have a core back then. I guess that was just all in pieces everywhere. But now I think that my my my my soul and my core is maybe fuck forming together now into a more fulfilled core, I guess. I don't know if that answers it. I think I can yeah, I can answer anything else. No.

SPEAKER_02:

I get what you I get what you mean. I like that though. Your soul and your core are like intertwined now and they weren't core.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's very can you take us down memory lane a little bit? Tell us about upbringing, childhood, however deep you wanna take that.

SPEAKER_03:

Sure, yes. So um immigrated to Canada when I was six uh with my my parents. We're uh we're worried about the communism taking over, like China's gonna take over. And we left, I think, 20 years too early. My dad was uh less hesitant to leave. My mom really pushed him to leave. So he was a policeman in Hong Kong. And um when we came, we were pretty poor. I think I guess um we lived in a smaller home. We had a really um beat-up car. So for some reason in Hong Kong we're living pretty well, and then in Canada we're we just went into poverty for some reason. I don't know why, but uh but uh I didn't speak English, so I remember um it was tough in the beginning. Um I was looking different, I dressed different, and uh for some reason I had friends like uh I grew up with a lot of Caucasians, like just separate ethnicities, and they took me in. And I remember my best friends were, you know, I I barely had any Asian friends back then for some reason. Uh it wasn't until high school, but um, yeah, they took me in. I didn't get bullied or anything. You know, now parents get worried about kids getting bullied. I I don't remember getting bullied. Um I remember other people getting bullied, and I feel bad for them, but but yeah, like um I think coming to a new country and just going from hot to cold, I was like very different, you know, in the snow. We never seen snow before. But um, I remember it was a very happy childhood until you know my mom, my mom passed away a cancer, and uh and my mom was a really loving, nerd nurturing mother, different than most Asian families, because most Asian families they'd be like, they they don't hug, they don't kiss, they don't, you know, they don't congratulate you, you know, they don't pump you up and anything. So that's the traditional Chinese, right? So my mom was you know just loving, caring. She, you know, always kissed us. She walked me to school until grade six. And uh, you know, if she didn't come home, like she came home late, I cried, you know, like I was like a little cry baby at one mommy all the time, right? So when she was diagnosed with cancer, I was like uh grade eight, grade nine. And that took a lot, you know, that took pretty much my entire soul out of me, I think, because you know, I feel kids nowadays need two parents to to raise them, and they don't understand till they hear about how bad I turned, until you know when I lost my mom. So uh like I was straight a student, and then when my mom passed, uh I just went like I was fighting, I was stealing, I got kicked out of school, like just like zero to a hundred, you know. Um and uh my family kind of forced me into being Christian, like I didn't want to be, and they kind of like you have to, because we're praying, you know, praying for your mom to get cured. And I remember going to church, I remember praying as a little boy, and like praying, you know, like please, you know, like save my mom, right? But she had late stage cancer. I didn't know that, you know, it wasn't gonna save her, but they painted a picture like she's gonna be okay, you know. So it was just me, my sister, my mom, and and um my dad. So I just watched her go through like the worst, you know, pain, you know. She's the loveliest lady. She she was so like the loving and caring. Like she she wouldn't even buy herself clothes, like she'll wear ripped clothing. Like, you know, it's pretty sad, you know. She'll buy stuff and she'll return it because she feels bad buying things, and then she'll she'll patch my clothes with little hearts and like uh you know circles because you know I I come home from like playing software, I get holes everywhere. Like she would buy new clothes and just patch them up, right? And then I remember she bought me like purple sun, uh she bought me purple glasses, it was like women's glasses. She got and uh I got picked on. Um I I wore like you know, like suspenders. It was like really brutal because I was so dirty. But uh, so she she was very loving, and um I just watched her like go through the piers, like she lost her hair, she lost like half her weight, she became like skin and bones at the end, and she died close to Mother's Day, so it was really uh every Mother's Day, I feel it, you know, and even till now. So I'm like PTSD from that, and uh just growing up without my mom. And so when she died, I guess her she had a talk with my dad saying, like, take care of the kids, be patient with them, don't give up on them. He's like, Yeah, of course. And he's like, and he has a different way of teaching kids. So when she passed away, he wasn't really I felt like he wasn't taking over as her role, you know. He just kind of he was barely even taking her as his role because he was just he depended on her of seeing the house and you know, like taxes and everything. So he had to do everything now, and he's he was just lost, you know. So I feel I can't blame him for everything, but I felt like as an 11-year-old, I had no one to turn to. My sister left to Toronto and uh no one really like sat me down and talked to me, like, yo, it's okay, you know, so I was like less on my own. And when I started meeting friends, uh I started meeting these mismisfit friends that are kind of going through the same kind of stuff, you know, like just bad kids, and I just ended up being a part of this little gang and stuff, and then we just like terrorized like the community, and it was like it became to a point where I didn't even care what my dad said, so I ran away all the time. Uh I swear, and I'm you know, we'll throw stuff at each other, and he you know now I think about it, it's so bad, you know. Like, no, no one should ever disrespect their parents like that. But I had no no one to mentor me, you know, and uh and now my family gets it. Like my aunts used to like say, Oh, he's so bad, like, give up on him. He's like this dark cheap. Like, who is this guy? Because all my family, they're all like uh married their first cousin, the Catholic, they didn't swear, they know nothing. I'm covered with tattoos. So I'm the only one that has tattoos, I'm the only one that kicked out of school. I'm like, so I'm like, but I was also the only male in the family, so I'm supposed to actually take you know the name. So I I had a lot of pressure. All my cousins are are girls, so and my family grandparents had so much hope for me, right? So when I just so when I started, you know, fighting, getting charged, getting kicked out of school, all that stuff, they were disappointed, of course. But yeah, so it still lives me until today, but I feel like uh losing your parents, one even you know, either parent, I think. But my mom was the closest to me, right? So and that's why like I became who I was. I felt like if she was alive, I wouldn't have taken that route. I would have just went to university and just been a good old boy, you know, but that didn't happen. It's just it's just crazy how it just went from zero to a hundred, you know, like you know, good boy, glasses, everything, and also dyed hair, earrings, swearing, getting kicked out of school. It was like it was just very um yeah, it became this angry hit, just angry all the time, you know. I took it out of my family in spec.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Now you mentioned your sister. Is she older or younger than you?

SPEAKER_03:

She's older by four years, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And you mentioned she went to Toronto when Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, like yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you left like just you and your dad?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh, for a bit, and then my my grandma came down, my grandpa, just to like tell about and stuff, but they're also like very strict, you know? So they just thought of like locking me in, putting bars on my windows, that would have been solving everything, but it didn't. Yeah, it just pushed me further.

SPEAKER_02:

And now you you mentioned it if your mom didn't pass when she did, like maybe you would have gone to university and things would have been different. Now, did you did you go to college?

SPEAKER_03:

I went to um it's called like community college, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Well, for business, yeah.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

But wasn't what I well wasn't what they probably would have wanted me to take, right? But uh I went to like hotel management because I went I I worked as a Bellboy uh uh dishwasher, and then I did like front desk and like Bellman. So I was kind of like trying to get the uh management position, which I uh ended up not getting. So they kind of gave it to his best friend roommate that had no experience. That was another another part that upset me because I went to school and got a scholarship for it, and I was I worked my way to get it, and my manager gave it to his best friend. So I was like, that was my first time feeling discriminated, feeling that there's uh there's some kind of political, you know, agenda here that you know that maybe working hard is not gonna really gonna make it here. So and there's a lot of agents there. Most a lot of workers are agents there. They worked there for 20, 30 years, but none of them have actually got to management, so it's like almost like they keep us slick, whatever, but so I quit. I quit and I just like whatever and went back to being bad again. So that was like a different period.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, so did you start doing did you do this right after high school?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I went back because I was so bad at one point that they I had to get a job. I was under probation, actually. So I had to get a job, and then so then they said it was a family hooked up for the job, so I started working as a as a dishwasher working away, and then I was staying out of trouble, so it was good. And then so four years I was working there. And then when I was 22, I I quit. And then um then I just went back to doing stupid things, I guess, for for a little while. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

What made you quit and leave there?

SPEAKER_03:

Because I felt like they they like gave me like the you know, like a stab in the back, you know. Like I I worked here hard as a dishwasher, like, you know, bus boy, like everything. Those are you know harsh jobs, you know. 12 hour shifts, you know, and then go they told me go get your uh scholarship, go get hotel management, right? I do, and you don't give me that job that I applied for, and you gave it to someone that has no experience? That's that that's crazy to me, right? So I was like, he gave it to his best friend, and then his best friend with bosses around, so I was like, ah no, it's not fun. So I was like, you know, left this place and then ceiling.

SPEAKER_02:

That's fair. I can't say I blame you there. You leave there, and then what's next step from there?

SPEAKER_03:

Then from there, I started doing some um I guess I was just kind of uh partying for a while, actually. I was just drinking, partying, blowing raves. I didn't really start working again until a couple years later, and I had some savings, I got burnt burnt my savings. And I go clubbing and drinking, and then I needed money. So then I my friend was doing real estate investments, I got involved with him, and we started like slipping houses, and he was like teaching value at did okay, did pretty good. We started buying some land and we started doing some real estate overseas in Dubai and stuff too. Uh but then afterwards, uh yeah, just working with friends wasn't a good idea too, because a lot of times you invest with your friends and it turns out into uh either bad investment or people just uh not honest, right? So then so then uh I would get into some projects that you know my friend kind of used me or lied to me about, so I end up like you know losing some more money. So then just you know, nowadays I'm very careful with pick my friends, I cut off most of my top six friends now, and I'd I'd rather be a hermit than have uh a hundred friends, so I have like maybe two, three friends right now, and of course I'm 44 now, so I've been through enough like bad friends, just bad investments that I don't want to go back to that. So everything I do now is just myself, you know, just like my company now is just do it all myself from top to bottom. So it is more rewarding that way, right? Um but and then I did some stock trading, waste management. I was uh had some shares and that was that, and then it got to my new company.

SPEAKER_02:

So how long ago did you get into your new company?

SPEAKER_03:

Two years. Pretty fresh, pretty fresh, but it's been on a on a pro you know upward momentum right now. It's doing pretty good.

SPEAKER_02:

So and now what was your motivation behind this?

SPEAKER_03:

So what our company is about is uh so we have an affordable, healthy, affordable way of hearing. So it's a new assistive hearing device that it can complement your hearing aids. You can use your hearing aids so you can you know use this instead of hearing aids and put a fraction of the cost. So, you know, I did some market analysis. People out there really want another option other than hearing aids because it's$78,000, right? So I wanted to cater to the low-income families, people that can afford hearing aids. So this is the perfect option for them. I've done thousands of tests, I've sold hundreds of these headphones, they look like headphones, so it looks looks like this. Looks like a bone conduction headphone, right? But we added uh an amplification into it that now aids hearing, so it becomes like a hearing aid. So people actually prefer this because you wear it on the outside, but not the inside, so it's nothing in your ear. So it's like a trendy way of hearing. So yeah, it's kind of cool. And I got into this because I'm actually partially blind, so I have a disability, and I have two chronics, and one actually helps people that are blind, and one helps people that are deaf. So so yeah, I I've uh I have something called the retinitis pigamos, so I've lost my peripheral and my night vision on one side. So I have tunnel vision, which um I really had a lot of trouble with for the last five years, but I just had to like hold the hand, guide me everywhere, or I go missing sometimes. Uh I'll go to dinner and the place is dark, and I don't come back from the washroom, which is kind of crazy. They're like, Where do you go? And I'm feeling my way in the walls, and then I'll get lost, you know, and I'll start walking into walls, and then I get you know, I'm just like, oh my god, and then so my night vision is like shot out of one side, it's like completely gone almost. It's kind of scary, and then um, and I have like very like maybe like this much like sight in the front, and it's kind of slowly eating away at that too, eventually. So they're saying that one day I might have no central in one side, so it's kind of scary. So I had to kind of get my butt in first gear and really think of something that I can do to you know help other people too, and just happen to you know come to come with this idea with my family, right? They own factories in Asia. So very lucky. My first product has actually been so many people are liking it and impressed by it. So yeah, I work with Sea Your Homes all over the city. I got brands coming in, and I did do Dragon's Den next year, auditioning for Dragon's Den. Uh, did a couple TV shows in the States that's supposed to be airing and uh streaming next year, too. So local magazines are featuring me and probably done 20 podcasts by now, so it's nice to just get out there and just spread the word and get exposure. People are radiating towards this.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, and now you mentioned there's a a product for people who are blind, and what is one of that?

SPEAKER_03:

So it's it's the same thing, except so my first product was like uh it was my very first product. It was like the base version of this one. So it has a background sound, so it picks up background sounds. You hear footsteps, you can hear like you know, like sounds, uh you know, you hear the toilet flashing, you hear like sounds from a distance, right? So that didn't work very well for all people hearing loss because they're focused in front of them, so that all the background sounds is very uh confusing for them, too much, right? So then my second one, we put a noise reduction chip that minimized background sounds. So now the second one is really good for the hearing loss community, right? And there's like a dual volume control, just a lot more gadgets I put into the new one, make it more senior-friendly, too, like a couple buttons, right? But because the first one, I was like, okay, what am I gonna do with the first product that I'm just promoting the second one? So I realize that people that are blind need something that can help enhance their second, the most important sense, which is their hearing. So people that are severely blind, I mean, I've meet people that have you have to have a CI dog or even a cane or something, like almost like blinds. When they wear this, they they actually welcome the sounds because to them, the extra steps, the distance, the door closing, it helps them know what's around them. Navigate, alert, awareness. So this is a tool for them to just be you know, just be able to navigate easier and just uh be more alert, right? It's not gonna help them see better, but it just makes that extra sense enhanced, right? So some people have found it useful. So that's the other market.

SPEAKER_02:

That makes a lot of sense. The extra sense more heightened.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. So they won't be annoyed of that, right? So it's like Daredevil, you know, with the Daredevil's line, and he needs his hearing to be super human. So that's kind of that idea. But um, I have people lots of different nonprofits all testing it now, try to like s just uh see if it it works the way I say it. So it's so far it's been it's been good. Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

And now you mentioned the second version of it. So you've already had iterations of it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I just launched my second one about three weeks ago, and um I've sold more of that in three weeks than one year of my first one. Like yeah, I had years. Look, so people are just buying them like like even today, like I sold like five, so it's just doing like events. Every couple days I do an event. So the old one, it'd be like I'll sell one or two, you know, here and there. So it's like kind of it was not impressing people as much as this one because this one just the background sounds is obviously very important for someone that's hearing loss, and I added more enhancement for it. It was actually the amplification has like seven different six or seven different levels you can actually change the setting to higher and higher and higher. Where my other one only had one setting. So this one has low to medium to high, so you can control it on both sides of their ear, right? You can still have people have one side of deafness, right? And there's the environmental mode, indoor-outdoor vocal, changes the environment you're in, and then um, you know, with water resistant, one hour charge, eight to ten hour usage. So people are starting to get used to this so they can use this on the residents and not risk losing their expensive hearing aids. Because when they start using it more and more, they'll drop, it'll fall out, it would break, you know, another$8,000 they're gonna spend. So, you know, some people can't qualify for hearing aids, so they don't have nothing to use, right? So this is where this comes in, right? So, and no one has come up with anything so far. So I'm the only one doing it, I have exclusive rights for it. We patent, we trademarked it, so you know, so far, so good.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, that's amazing. Now, I'm curious, you mentioned you've made changes to it, like there's more there's different settings now and all these different things. And now, where did you did you get feedback from people, or was this just different ideas that you had on how to change it?

SPEAKER_03:

It was mostly working with seniors over a two year. Time period one-on-one, or big group styles, like getting ideas from them, right? You can hear them say, Oh, I don't like background sounds. Oh, this is this is not easy enough to operate. So then now like, okay, let's make it even easier, right? So before it was like holding buttons and clicking. Now it's just one switch and then it just amplifies everything, right? So easier the better for them. And uh this open ear design is what really makes it different than hearing aids because it sits on the outside on your cheekbone, and you're using bone conduction, right? So bone conduction is sending sound vibrations into your inner ear, right? So I work with people, you know, even with conductive hear loss, with like blown out their eardrum, or they listen to loud music and it caused damage. All those people work, right? Now they can hear so much better with this. Yeah, it doesn't matter if it's accidents or like uh a sickness or uh they're born with it. I've tested all types of people, and then 85% of them work perfect, 15% didn't work. And to me, it's like I can't impress everybody, but as long as the product works for most people, it's still considered like a success, right? Because there are some people with really severe hair loss or sight loss, and you just can't do anything about further rates.

SPEAKER_02:

And I really like that you took and got feedback from actual seniors that were like using it to see what worked for them, what didn't work for them. Like, you know, something that might seem super simple to us, like you know what I mean? Like not somebody not like an elderly person using this, but that's simple like switch. It it made a difference to them.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, for sure. Just you you gotta want you want them to give you feedback because they're gonna be the market target, right? So um anime sets too, right? Everything's like, oh that's true. Like, you gotta you know take the pride down and just know that's the gonna be beneficial for you in the long renderings.

SPEAKER_02:

I like how you said take the pride down. It makes sense. Some people might struggle with that because they might have not liked something, for example. Like, even but it's things that you can edit, not edit, but like revise and change about it, you know. But some people might not have asked because they don't want to heal the criticisms.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, for sure. And I know there's some people that love their product so much that no one can tell them anything's different, right? They're like, no, they're wrong. They're fucking that's like it's like you know, but if more enough people say it means it's probably this, right? So but um some people are just obsessed with their own ideas, they don't have they don't want to move, but you know, they don't want to evolve. So evolving is important. Every couple years we'll have a new product, so that's how it is, right? So Apple does that, right? So no, it's true.

SPEAKER_02:

Evolving is important. Is there anything that helped you like put your pride aside and be able to ask for feedback?

SPEAKER_03:

I think my ex-girlfriend really instilled that in me because I was pretty pig-headed even in our relationship. So now that we're not together anymore, but all I feel like it's just with relationships, but like I'm still a little pig headed, but you know, a lot of times they are right, you know, the girlfriends were just like we're just uh insensitive and unreasonable. After we we blow gas together, like ah, you're right. I'm sorry. She's fine. I always give her props, like you know, we did it 12 years, but um 12 years we traveled like 36 countries the last 10 years because because I was going blind and I want to see the world before go blind and also but love, you know, things things happen. We we uh the love started fading, but we were still best friends. We actually still talk. She moved to Vancouver, and um, you know, it's weird because most people are like, it how do you do that? Because we can't be friends with our ex-girlfriends, it doesn't work that way, right? But we still support each other, she supports she supports what I do, I support what she does, you know. So yeah, if people that are influencing your leg, you keep them around no matter what race.

SPEAKER_02:

So I get that. That's good though that she she was able to help you, you know, have the courage to seek feedback to like improve, you know, whether it's a product or our lives. I think feedback, not just from anybody, but like in general, can help, you know, it can help us evolve and get to the next level of whatever.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, exactly. Like she helped me with more than that. I think she helped me with yeah, just even like being smarter how to spend, like invest money, because I was very just into dumping money into like different places and I don't research and like just losing my investments everywhere because you know it sounded good from what they say, but now I know it's all you know it's all BS. So obviously, like now it's like everything comes to me, it fails with me or it goes successful with me. So at least I know I'm not taking shortcuts anymore and through hard work, it's it's it's going really well. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow. No, that makes that makes a lot of sense. No, I'm curious. I ask most guests this, and a lot of people have had multiples, but I'm curious what you would consider the biggest aha moment you've had in your life.

SPEAKER_03:

Mishandlement?

SPEAKER_02:

The biggest aha moment.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh aha? Ha moment?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, like your biggest aha moment.

SPEAKER_03:

Aha moment? Like like laughing moment, like ha-ha?

SPEAKER_02:

Or aha.

SPEAKER_03:

Aha. Aha. Oh aha. Like aha uh like that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Like the like light bulb? Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, like the light bulb.

SPEAKER_03:

Sorry. Yeah, um, the biggest aha moment. I think it'll be probably my creation of this funny, because that is the most fulfilling thing I've ever done in my life, even till till now. Just helping seniors and helping people with disabilities, being able to hear and like just uh and not spend wreck, you know, eight thousand dollars. Affordable, oopsor, affordable, accessible, versatile, comfortable uh product. Because it it honestly, I feel like the price people charge is a robbery because you never charge people eight thousand dollars for something that you want to hear. You know, hearing is such an essential thing. So that everyone's saying, like, why do I have to pay$8,000? This is ridiculous. Yours is so affordable. And I was like, yeah. But I think it's the society that keeps telling them that this is the only thing out there that they have to. So now they're like, oh wow, like please keep promoting this because this is amazing. And I've seen seniors like cry and stuff, like they hug me and they like I've seen people like could hear for eight years and suddenly hear. So to me, that's something like you know, every day I'm just like happy and just gratifying is rewarding. So I don't know if that's a ha thing, but yeah, the happiest thing, yes, happiest thing I've ever done.

SPEAKER_02:

So I love that. No, I'm curious. You said you you created this about two years ago. Now, approximately five years ago, did you ever see yourself creating something, maybe not even having this exact idea, but something similar?

SPEAKER_03:

No, no. Well, I was uh I was a pretty lazy guy in upset. Like, I guess I've I've really bad I have high ADHD, and when you have ADHD, you either become too comfortable with yourself and you just lay back and you kind of like ah, this did enough, right? But when you have an idea of something you're really invested in, you just 100% like almost obsessed with it. So that's why I've become obsessed with this. And um, I can go up and talk for like two hours about you know this and just be so energetic and passionate about it. But I don't read books, I've never read a book in my life. Like I can't read books, but I visually learn very well. And um, so stuff like weird stuff like singing, like I sing like I memorize a thousand songs, which is weird. Like I just sing, I can learn a song, but then I can hear it twice and learn the whole song. It's crazy. Or I look watch sports trivia, and I I'm excited about that and my work, and that's pretty much it. Like so everything else, if someone tells me about it, it just flows through my other ear. And I just don't even like you know care about like movies, yeah. I love it, like you know, songs and stuff, but like if it's something like totally not exciting for me, it's just I don't even care, you know. So so I was like that back then. So I had nothing going on. I was kind of like, you know, just like uh then so it was actually what our breakup that really caused me to really turn things up. So I used the breakup to change my life. I went sober, I went uh because I didn't want to be hung over doing these podcasts and like you know, hung over my events, you know, and then I have an image to and I care about what I do and I didn't want to destroy it. So then I felt like alcohol was something I don't need in my life. Uh I removed all my friends that kept being bad influence on me to drink every weekend, so I cut them all off. So they're like, hey man, why are you why are you cutting us off? And we heard you doing these podcasts saying you're removing toxic friends. I was like, yep, that's you know, that's you got but like you know, for me is like what's what's the point in like I'm 44? Am I gonna why am I drinking every weekend? Why am I just like destroying my health, you know? So now I got myself to the gym, so I'm eating healthier. Uh I don't eat chips anymore, I don't eat junk food as much more. It's feel much better, you know. It's the only thing is I have insomnia because of my uh OCE that I'm so you know obsessed with my company and I do so much with it, I'm thinking about a nine-day. So I'm like always waking up with ideas. I'm always just like just thinking about what the next thing to do, right? So so I'm trying to help control my my mental health through better sleep. That's the only negative thing in my life right now, I guess. But but yeah, she it was the hard breakup because um I think the first it was like the first like two like a month or something, I was drinking heavily. I actually shut myself in the world. No one could get a hold of me until like near the end when I just was so depressed I had to reach out to somebody and they're like, where have you been? And I was like, that hold of everything. They didn't know I we broke up. We kept a secret from people because we felt that a lot of my friends weren't really supportive, and some of them even actually were like hoping we break up, which is kind of crazy because uh we're that last couple that's still standing, and a lot of our friends like broken up, and you know, a lot of people were actually envious that we still had such a strong relationship and traveling and stuff, and we didn't have kids and everything, so so we kept it from everybody, but you know, it wasn't like she moved out, and that's what it really hit me, you know. Places like Epty, the Christmas trees out there, so when Christmas hit, I was just like crying, you know, every TV show there was music, you know, I'd be like crying and I wouldn't work and then just like shut everybody out. It was pretty bad. It actually felt like I was like rock bottom, you know. And uh and it's um yeah, it was in the middle of like I guess this career, I guess, because we broke up last year, like did like around November, so it's like it's only been like around nine, like 10, 11 months, you know. I just started going back out dating and stuff. It's so different, it's so scary. But um, yeah, I've been kind of keeping myself like sheltered. I haven't gone out for a long time because I can't see at night. She's not there to guide me, hold my hand anymore. So I just stay home, you know. Um, I don't have a social life really, so so kind of like look back and think like, you know, that you know, she she really did help me a lot through through a lot of things and open my eyes a lot. But um, you know, life goes on, right? She she's doing well too. I've been helping her. She's like living on her own first time. It's very scary, you know, for her because she was we were so dependent on each other. So the moment we had to be on our own, I had to start learning how to be without her. She used to help me along with my company too. She built my website for me and a lot of my visual stuff. So then I actually kind of had to start coming out of my comfort zone and being creative myself and learned that I could be creative. So it was like kind of like almost like I didn't do it because I relied on her to it. So when you start doing a thing on your own, you have to realize there's a lot of things that are hit, right? So yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I gotcha. It all it almost forced you to do some of the stuff on your own.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, like things I never knew I was I could do. Like, you know, it's crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

That's a positive it showed you that you could do things that you didn't know you could.

SPEAKER_03:

It's stuff that even she thought I couldn't even do. Like she thought that she's the creative one, and I actually showed her some of the stuff I did recently. She's like, wow, that's actually pretty good. And I was like, Well, thank you, because the she didn't compliment me but because I just I think I just thought I I was just more focused on to sales and marketing and doing what I was good at and like presenting. And I feel like I didn't think that what she was doing was, you know, like I didn't appreciate it as much back then, but now I yeah, I appreciate it because it's the backbone of like what I do now, right? Having like nice brochures and nice business cards, a nice website. So now I just add on to it, right? I just kind of like you know, um but yeah, like you know, girls do have you know, like I guess a very I guess a more imagined brain than most men they expect. But um, I mean some guys I've imaginary, but maybe it's just you know me. But uh but no, she took I think I took a lot of risks after. That's why I got myself out there and applied for a Dragon's Dead or applied for like these TV shows and and started doing podcasting. Because I think if we were together, I would never have done it. You know, I would never have even thought of doing it, or maybe I wouldn't have thought it I would have done it, but she wouldn't have agreed to it. She's more less risk-taking. So if I told her, she might have been like, Don't do it, don't waste your time, it'd be a scam or something, or you know, or she'd be like, that's you know, don't waste your time, just like focus on something else, right? So I just start throwing myself in different places, and they're all kind of working out now. So she's like, Wow, like that's crazy, like you know, like just like grants and like like 50 C year homes, like just like throwing myself out there and just like putting my face out there and just working with people and and uh and people are taking notice, right? Like I never used I used to be the one reaching out to people, now people are reaching out to me, which is nice. There are people that actually turned me down before, now they're wanting to come back. So it's like very fulfilling, you know. They didn't believe in me in the when I first came. So it it's really refreshing to to know, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, that's amazing. Congratulations. That's that's great how it came like full circle almost.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yes, very full circle.

SPEAKER_02:

That's amazing. Now, I'm curious. You mentioned after the breakout, for about that like a first month you were heavily drunking and you weren't really doing anything. How did that switch? How did you get out of that and make that change?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's pretty pretty crazy, because like I'll have times where I've become super like addictive to something, but I can cut it like cold turkey. So it's like some people take a while to like I've been drinking since I was 14, like just like not like consecutively, but like since I was like young, right? But and I was like buying alcohol every day after work and just like just walking back home feeling depressed and like what am I doing? And then drink it and then drink till like very late night and then wake up next day and go buy some more again. It was just it was just messy. And this is during the middle of like my company, and I could have like killed my company, but like I think um it wasn't until I think I was like almost all cried out, you know. It's like you cry so much, he's like you know, you just kind of look at yourself, you're like, dang, you know, like if I keep doing this, I might die in the air, you know. So some of my friends are like contacted to me. I finally turned my phone on and just started talking to people. And I told them, and my ex is actually the one that told me, she like she was concerned, she's like, please stop drinking and stuff. Like, you need to talk to someone, right? And tell like just get some help, like talk to someone. I don't want you by yourself and just self-medicating yourself, you know. So I listened to her, I started talking to one friend, two friends, three friends, for and then they're all like, bro, like you you have purpose, you know, you have something that can change the world. Why are you killing it? And you can you think she wants she'll take you back if you do this, it's not gonna, you know, because it's just you're just making it worse, you know? So they just tell me like you gotta get the grip of yourself, and like they didn't tell me to stop drinking, that was my own personal thing, right? I just decided to not drink, and I have a case of beer in my fridge from 10 months ago that's sitting in my in the fridge unopened into the box. And I look at that as a reminder every day, I was like, okay, that's good. Because I don't I have to not like something to quit, so I hate smoking. I don't smoke, right? I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't gamble, so those are nice traits, right? But um for a while I was like partying and doing lots of like you know addiction problems. But the alcohol was is worse when I was saying when I'm going to a breakup, so I just decided to cut it cold turkey. It's just like I was like, I don't think I really need it. And when I started drinking, like I just felt like even when I was drinking, I felt like I hated myself. I hated the taste, but I just kept drinking anyways, and I was like, it's gross, and I just kept drinking, but I just kept thinking, just wrote a list down how much I hate alcohol. I eat thinking how much it's gross and waste my money, waste my brain cells, it makes me hunt over puking all the time. So I was like, I don't think I need that. Nothing positive out of it, right? So and I've seen friends that went sober and their life has just changed, right? So I'm like, I think that's what I should do. And then I just started going to the gym, got a trainer, which happens to be my my my best friend in grade seven, and we just reconnected, and so we he's my new best friend now, and uh he's a great guy, and um because nowadays I don't talk to too many people anymore, and I just only have you know just like a small group, right? And uh I'm not out to make any more friends, I'm happy, you know, the way it is, and yeah, and then just met a new girl too, so it's kind of it's actually things are kind of going well, but yeah, just cut cold turkey because it was just easy for me. I don't know why I don't want to drink anymore, I don't want to touch it, I don't want to sip.

SPEAKER_02:

But you started involving yourself with some friends, like to get out of this.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know how another one like yeah, they had to drill me into like telling me why my life's worth, you know, moving forward even without her. So they're like, yeah, she's a great influence in you, but that's not the end of your chapter. Gotta keep going. They're right. I think I was just like bummed out, right? 12 years is a long time, right? So I know she's going through the same struggle, like living in a new city, you know, without me helping her, and that's mine shit at all. So we're going through the same stuff. I think she went a little bender for a whole up too. So but now I feel like like the best that I've been, except minus the sleeping.

SPEAKER_02:

That's great though. That's amazing. And that's good that you had people that like in your life that were supportive and were able to remind you you have a purpose. You're here for a reason, you know?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, like my family, like even like I told like my family, like my dad, we know he we we still have been really fully like fixed our old you know, beef with each other, I guess. He's still like kind of um, he's still not really encouraging. Like, if even if I told him all the success now, he'd be like, well, okay, I said these wouldn't be like having a back, even though it's like something so great, you know. But I think I just felt I grew up, I didn't really have strong parenting and stuff, you know. So that's why I think I don't have kids, because like that always scared me my ex because she kind of had a a little bit of an issue with her family and stuff. So we both kind of thought if we brought in a kid in this generation with all the negative stuff out there, plus we didn't have a good upbringing with our parents, that we won't want to, you know, bring in a kid like that. We thought we were not ready. Some people thought we're selfish for not having kids and that we travel too much. I was like, how's that selfish? It's something about bringing in a kid and a cat take care of them properly and drink around them like you know, some of them do, right? That's that's even worse, I think. So I think it's not it's a preference, right? Not going to apt up kids.

SPEAKER_02:

I get that. Well, thank you so much. I really enjoyed this.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

Have you heard of a man named Jay Shetty?

unknown:

No.

SPEAKER_02:

So he's got a podcast called On Purpose. He's an author, motivational speaker. No, no big deal that you haven't heard of him, but he ends his podcast with two segments, and I have stolen or borrowed those two segments. So I've not my questions. But the first segment is the many side to us, and there's five questions, and they need to be answered in one word each. What is one word someone who was meeting you for the first time would use to describe you as? What is one word someone who knows you extremely well would use to describe you as?

SPEAKER_04:

Helpful.

SPEAKER_02:

What is one word you'd use to describe yourself?

SPEAKER_04:

Uh giving.

SPEAKER_02:

What is one word that if someone didn't like you or agree with your mindset would use to describe you as?

SPEAKER_03:

It's stubborn.

SPEAKER_02:

What is one word you're trying to embody right now?

SPEAKER_04:

Legacy.

SPEAKER_02:

What is the best advice you've heard or received?

SPEAKER_03:

Best advice. Probably for my friends recently, I guess. Gotta keep moving. Or don't take shortcuts. That's another one. Don't take shortcuts.

SPEAKER_02:

Why is that the best?

SPEAKER_03:

Because I took shortcuts my entire life. Until now I finally got my full happiness. You know, I was I think I was depressed my entire life, really, so I was never really fully happy. But this is probably the most fully full happiness I've had so far.

SPEAKER_02:

What in the worst advice you've heard or received?

SPEAKER_03:

Hey bro, invest in this.

SPEAKER_02:

What is something that you used to value that you no longer value?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh my fake. I used to, I guess. Very short period of time I I was, you know, because I wanted my mom to eat to miraculously get heap uh get cured. But I'm not, I'm not I guess I'm atheist, but I'm I'm still like I'm still Catholic, but I have a cross, I have jeans tattooed, but I don't go to church. I don't talk about religious stuff. I don't really believe in uh I believe there's a God, but I just don't talk. I just don't think I need to say like I do it for God, this and that. Like I just be like, I do it for me. I do it for my mom or something, right? It's like something we're just so into doing is for a purpose that's higher up, but I don't that's why I don't believe in it anymore. I might have before, but yeah. I think my faith has just kind of went from this isn't just went to like my dad's always like telling me go to church and like he's like go you need to get repentant or you're gonna go to hell, and I'm like, Oh come on, and you know, I'm like, yeah, so so I think I'm more more an atheist now, I guess. But yeah. Big change.

SPEAKER_02:

If you could describe what you would want your legacy to be, as if someone was reading it, what would you want it to say?

SPEAKER_03:

Um, I guess just fighting um you know, light of the tunnel through adversity. All types of adversity, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

If you could create one law in the world that everyone had to follow, what would it be? And I wanna know why.

SPEAKER_03:

Probably uh love each other for what you know, no racism, I think, you know. Just love everybody like they're all one one cellar. So think we're all the same, right? Just too much hate, you know? Yeah. It's not right. I think we're all yeah, everyone uh I've I've friends of all all all colors, shapes, and sizes, you know. There's no reason why some people should should hate on someone that's different, right? So yeah. That shouldn't definitely be embedded in our head.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, no, I I completely agree. Well, thank you so much for speaking with me. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank thank you. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And I do just like to give it back to the guests, like no pressure, but any final words of wisdom, anything else you want to share with the listeners?

SPEAKER_03:

Thank maybe for like young young kids out there, I guess. Um get to find a mentor, you know, if they don't have a a family or somebody, you know, it's good to have like an older person to guide you because I didn't have that. And uh and that and I ended up finding other people like me, then that that's the recipe for disasters. What I found was um a lot of my friends that were really bad, you know, bad um, you know, teens or even their 20s and 30s, they're just super bad. Like what I found that when they had kids, they took the time to actually be their best friend and just like do everything with them, and their kids turn out super good. So, you know, and I have friends that are drinkers, they just drink around the kids, they just leave the kids to a nanny. The kids are terrible, you know, just let them watch whatever. So when you actually put the time to be the kid's best friend, I think that's what I wish I had. And uh I never got it, but I've seen people that I never thought would be good parents became amazing parents and uh changed their life through their kids, right? The kids make them so happy, and I'm like, this guy literally used to beat people up and so the bar and like you know, smash beer bottles at people, like it's and also he's like so different. And I'm like, wow, and they look he lives through his kids, right? And they do MMA together, they basketball, they just do everything, right? So be your kid's best friend or find a mentor.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, I love that piece of advice. Well, thank you so much, Michael. I really appreciate it. Thank you, appreciate it, and thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Mando's Mindset.

SPEAKER_01:

In case no one told you today, I'm proud of you. I'm booting for you, and you got this. As always, if you enjoyed the show, I would really appreciate it if you would leave me a 5-star rating, leave a review, and share with anyone you think would benefit from that. And don't forget, you are only one nine-step shift away from shifting your life. Thanks guys, until next time.

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